Buggy-top



(M del.)

- MITc Tifi- 3 mum: /9- u Patent Feb UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE P. MITCHELL, OF OV-ID, MICHIGAN.

BUGGY-TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 576,599, dated February 9, 1897.

Application filed October 3, 1396. Serial No. 607,775. (No model.)

To (all who/1t [it um concern..-

Be it known that I, GEORGE P. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States,residin g at Ovid, in the county of Clinton and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Buggy- Top, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in bu ggy-tops.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of bu ggy-tops, more especially the manner of mounting the back curtain, and to enable the same to be conveniently adjusted without necessitating the occupant of a vehicle leaving the same.

A further object of the invention is to provide a back curtain, which may be readily arranged at any desired adjustment in order to provide an opening or space for the purpose of ventilation and at the same time shade the head and neck of the occupant.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement. of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a carriage-top provided with a back curtain constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views illustrating the construction of the bearings or supports of the spring-roller. Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of one of the bearings or supports and one end of the spring-roller. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view illustrating the construction of the guides for supporting the lower end of the curtain.

Like numerals of reference designate corre sponding parts in all the figures of the drawlugs.

l designates a back curtain mounted on a spring-roller 2, which has its journals arranged in recesses 3 and 4 of supports 5 and 6. The recess 3 is rectangular to receive the square or rectangular journal, which is connected with the spring of the roller, and the other recess 4 is rounded to receive the other journal of the spring-roller. The bearings 5 and 6, which are located adjacent to the top portion of a buggy-top 7, are composed of a bolt 8, provided with an enlarged head passed through a perforation of the adjacent back quarter or strip 9, a nut 10, and a sleeve 11, which is interposed between the nut and the front face of the back quarter or strip 9. The head of the bolt is arranged on the rear face of the back quarter or strip, and the recesses 3 and 4 are located at the front ends of the sleeves 11, whereby the spring-roller and the curtain are sufficiently offset from the back quarters or strips and the adjacent portions to the carriage top to enable the springroller to rotate freely. The nuts are provided with flanges 12, of the same. diameter as the sleeves 11, whichmay be constructed of any suitable material, and the recesses 3 and 4 are open at the side and ends of the sleeves.

In assembling the parts the sleeves are first placed on the bolts and the journals of the spring-roller are fitted in the recesses 3 and 4 before the nuts are applied. The flanges of the nuts serve to close the recesses at the ends of the sleeves and retain the journals of the spring-rollers therein. When the back curtain is rolled up, it is concealed from the view at rear of the vehicle by a transverse strip 13, disposed horizontally at the back of the buggy-top at the top thereof.

The inner edges of the back quarters or strips 9 are provided, a short distance below the bearin gs or supports 5 and 6, with notches or slots 14, and when the curtain 1 is drawn downward it is passed through the slots to arrange it on the rear face of the back quarters or strips 9, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, and the curtain is provided at its bottom with a stiffening rod or strip 15, arranged in a suitable hem of the curtain. Guide-plates 16 are secured to the 0 inner face of the bottom of the curtain 1 at the side edges thereof, and cooperate with the adjacent portion of the curtain 1 to form guides or ways to receive the inner edges of the back quarters or strips 9, and to prevent the curtain from blowing about when drawn. The guide-plates, which are bolted or otherwise secured to the curtain at the stiffening rod or strip, are provided with substantially L-shaped flanges having their outer portions I00 parallel with the curtains 1 and terminating at the edges thereof.

The back curtain, which may be provided with a light, as shown, is adapted to be readily raised and lowered without necessitating an occupant of a vehicle leaving the same, and it may be adjusted to any desired point, so as to shade the head and neck of a person and at the same time permit air to pass freely through the vehicle. The light, including the glass and frame, is designed to be about five inches long and an inch wide, so as not to interfere with the rolling up of the curtain.

The side edges of the back curtain may be secured to the back strips, when the curtain is pulled down, by means of short straps 18, disposed horizontally and adapted to engage similarly-disposed buckles 19, mounted on the adjacent back quarters or strips. The curtain 1, when drawn down to its full extent, is designed to extend a short distance below the strap of the seat to overlap a lower transverse strip 13 sufficiently to prevent a draft or storm of any kind from beating in at that point. The guide-plates are located a short distance above the lower edge of the curtain to permit the latter to extend over the outer face of the transverse strip 13, as illustrated in Fig. l of the accompanying drawin gs.

The curtain is designed to be of such length that when it is drawn down and fastened no folds will be left on the roller to give any slack or looseness to the curtain by reason of the wind blowing or anything striking againstit, and when it is desired to raise the curtain after it has been drawn down and tightened it is necessary, after the curtain has been unfastened, to give the roller about a quarterturn with the hand to start it. The curtain may then be readily adjusted to the desired point.

It will be seen that the back curtain is simple and comparatively inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be applied to all kinds of buggies, carriages, and similar vehicles, and that it may be readily raised and lowered or adjusted to any intermediate point without necessitating an occupant of a vehicle leaving the same.

It will also be apparent that the curtain by being guided on and interlocked with the inner edges of the back quarters or strips is prevented from being blown around in the wind at any point to which it may be adjusted, and that when rolled up it cannot be seen from the back of a vehicle.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. The combination with a carriage-top, of a back curtain provided with a spring-roller, and supports mounted on the back of the carriage-top and consisting of bolts extending forward from the said back, sleeves mounted on the bolts and provided at their front edges with recesses receiving the journals of the spring-roller, and nuts mounted on bolts engaging the sleeves and retaining said journals in the recesses thereof, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a carriage-top provided at the inner edges of its back quarters or strips with horizontal notches or slots, a back curtain provided with a spring-roller journaled at points above the slots or notches, said back curtain being arranged to pass through the notches or slots and slide on the rear faces of the back quarters or strips, and guides arranged at the bottom of the curtain and receiving the adjacent edges of the back quarters or strips, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a carriage-top provided at the inner edges of its back quarters or strips with horizontal slots and having a transverse strip 13 covering the same at the back of the carriage-top, supports mounted on the back quarters or strips and located above the slots, a back curtain provided with a spring-roller and having the journals thereof mounted on the said supports, said curtain being arranged to pass through said slots, and guide-plates secured to the bottom of the curtains, arranged on the inner face thereof and provided with L-shaped flanges cooperating with the adjacent portion of the curtain to form guides or ways for the back quarters or strips, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE P. MITCHELL.

'itnesses:

Z. O. THOMAS, G. C. STANTON. 

